Four local residents charged with burglary of North Auburn homes and cars parked at trailheads are facing upcoming court dates.
Last week the Placer County Sheriff’s Office arrested Stephanie Jean Cooke-Perez, 27, Jayme Lynn Salcedo, 33, Karissa Dawn Yeager, 27, and Joseph William Einspahr, 30.
Einspahr is thought to be the male leader of the female burglary ring, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Another alleged burglar, Amanda M. Jojo, 21, is still at-large.
Detective Jim Hudson said the Sheriff’s Office re-arrested Einspahr Monday after he was released on bail, because the office was able to add more counts of theft to his charges.
Einspahr is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Monday in Auburn’s Placer County Jail courtroom. Cooke-Perez’s next court date is set for 8:30 a.m. Monday in the jail courtroom.
Salcedo, Yeager and Jojo are all expected to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Roseville.
Einspahr, Salcedo, Yeager and Jojo all have charges dating back to August, according to David Broady, a deputy district attorney for the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
Einspahr is being held in Placer County Jail on a $75,000 bail. Cooke-Perez is also being held at the jail and is ineligible for bail.
Salcedo and Yeager are currently out of custody on bail.
Hudson said as of Wednesday the Sheriff’s Office had reunited 12 people with their property and expects that number to be 15 or 16 by the end of this week.
“No one has recovered all their property,” Hudson said Wednesday. “We got a lot of costume jewelry back to people. We have gotten computers back to people.”
Hudson said other items included sunglasses, identification cards, credit cards, iPods and pocketknives.
Hudson said a man who worked for Placer County had his 15-year anniversary knife stolen from him, and this was one of the items they were able to return.
Another woman was in tears when she came in to retrieve her property, because each piece had meaning for her.
“(She) had a ceramic gingerbread man,” Hudson said. “She picked out almost 75 items that were hers. What was unique about that lady is every piece had a story.”
Over 100 people visited the evidence room to look through the items, Hudson said.
All of the evidence returned to victims was found in a car driven by Einspahr, Hudson said.
Hudson said the Sheriff’s Office is doing everything it can to get property back to victims, but if items aren’t matched with owners, a legal process begins.
During the process the alleged burglars can claim the items are theirs. If they do not or if their claims are found to be false, the items would go to auction, Hudson said.
Hudson said the Sheriff’s Office believes the alleged burglars were selling the stolen items several different ways.
“Some of the items were going to pawn shops,” he said. “I think they were selling them to other people on the streets and so on. We got pawn slips we are still looking in to.”
Hudson said he believes there is still a large stash of items being held somewhere, and the Sheriff’s Office hopes the arrest of Jojo may lead them to those items.
A reward is being offered to anyone with information about the case including Jojo’s whereabouts or the burglaries. Call CrimeStoppers at (800) 923-8191.
Reach Bridget Jones at bridgetj@goldcountrymedia.com